Pacifier

The Second Time

The following day Mel woke up early along with the chickens, as her mother would say.

Last night she fell asleep at around 12 a.m. and instead of dreaming about the romance novel Pacifier, she dreamt about the mysterious Corey. Her new found hero. She didn't know if she would ever see him again honestly, but a part of her being really hoped so.

That morning Mel laid in her bed staring at the ceiling until her alarm clock went off. Hastily turning it off she rolled out of bed and took a short shower before getting dressed, feeding her fish Daisy, and watering her plants. Once her mourning routine was done, she grabbed her old messenger bag off the sofa and proceeded to go to work, forgetting to grab her yellow coat on the way out.

The walk to the shop this morning was more observant than usual as Mel tried to recognize the places that the fight had happened last night. Just as she expected there were a few dried spots of blood on the cold ground where Corey punched that creep in the nose. Looking the other way Mel saw the alley where Corey beat up the man that owed him money. She didn't know why but she found herself walking in that direction. Once she was there she immediately regretted it after seeing the blood that stained the ground and hurried back on her previous path to work.

When she finally got there, she sighed in relief after seeing Thomas. He didn't know about last night and she didn't know if she should tell him. She couldn't have told him even if she wanted to though because all he wanted to talk about was her moving in and how they would decorate her room.

"Are you okay you've been acting strange today... Spacier than usual." Thomas asked at lunch time. Everyday they closed the shop at 12 to enjoy their lunches together. Mel forgot to bring a lunch today so Thomas split his pb&j sandwich with her. She couldn't bring herself to eat it though. Memories of the night before crowded her brain.

"I'm fine Thomas." She replied absently.

Thomas could tell that she was doing what she always did. Bottling things up, and keeping him out of the loop. He remembered how it took her a week to tell him that her dads condition was getting worse. Knowing that she couldn't trust him with these things really hurt, but he was never one to pry.

"Ok." Thomas muttered packing up his lunch ten minutes early.

"Don't be like that Tom-tom." Mel sighed following him into the front of the shop.

"It's fine. You don't wanna tell me what's going on and you don't have to."

"You're right I don't." Mel retorted. Thomas seemed hurt. "But I will."

Thomas and Mel sat down once again, but this time, on the stools behind the counter.

"So yesterday when you were in the back this guy came in and bought a David Bowie record."

"I'm listening." He smirked, Thomas loved gossip and Mel carefully left out the fact that she thought that Corey was extremely attractive.

"Ok well on my way home last night I was being followed by this strange man-"

"Seriously?! I knew I should have walked with you. Never again Mel." Thomas stated frantically.

"No it's okay though. Well sort of. See I heard some guys fighting and turns out that one of them was the guy from the shop and he came to my rescue sort of and started beating up the stalker."

"What?"

"Yeah and then he walked me all the way home and I can't stop thinking about that. There was so much blood I thought he was going to kill him and you should have seen the other guy he was fighting with. I don't know if he made it out alive. And I just keep wondering why a guy like him helped me."